I need your help guys.... my friend is PSYCHO.

[hypekstatic]

Okay, well she's not psycho but lol close enough.

Alright so its been brought to my attention that one of my close friends
is thinking of moving to Japan. She barely knows the Japanese language
and she's never been there but shes considering living there. Why?
Well SHE SAYS its to have an Art career there. She loves Japanese
contemporary art and thinks that in America she wont go anywhere
special with her art skills.
Now listen, I feel her on that. I am a fashion major and that coincides
with Art and cmon, if I could I would so study abroad in Japan where
fashion is BOOMING like every day, and of course FRANCE, but those
options right now are unrealistic.
I keep telling her that its a big mistake because 1. She is going to live in
a country where she has NEVER visited, and she doesnt even know the
language well enough to survive. Yes, there are english speakers, but she
will be at such a disadvantage without knowing the language. 2. She would
need to find a job there and she is a U.S. citizen who is a second year in
college, with no specific degree whatsoever except her associates in art
maybe and her high school diploma. 3. She is STILL in college.... that means
if she goes to Japan she will be throwing away all that she did in America
to start over in a totally different country across the globe. Basically she
will be putting her life on pause just to be living in Japan.

What scares me is that she doesnt even realize that finding a good job in
Japan is not going to come easy. Japan is an economically high place to
live and unless she finds a good job, there is no way she will be able to
live daily. Besides, the only jobs that she can get with her lack of Japanese,
are corporate jobs who neeed good english speakers, but even those
jobs require the person to communicate in some Japanese...this girl barely
knows the basics.

With all these factors into considerating, she STILL wants to go to Japan.
If that is not psycho, i don't know what is.

What scares me is that I know her, and I know she loves anime, japanese
culture, japanese movies, dramas, actors, products, etc. She totally loves
Japanese things, which I do to but cmon..... she is 20 years old... realistically
speaking she just seems like she wants to live in Japan for the hype in her
love for Japanese culture. It's unrealistic to try and live there at this point
in time, dont you think? She told me if she doesnt go she may lose this
opportunity forever... and i think thats bullshit. After college she coud always
try to go there THEN, but not NOW when she is still in college working her
way up. America is much more forgiving than an Asian country. You screw
up your credit or your school gpa, you always have a chance to rise up,
its not like that in Asian countries, and she should know that before getting
too hyped up in it.

Anyway, no matter what I tell her she still wants to go. Shes been saving
up money for YEARS apparently for this... and im thinking she is nuts and
i cannot stop her. What should I do?? I know that maybe she could be
successful there, but its a very VERY thin chance, realistically speaking..
she would have to change her ENTIRE culture and lifestlye to live there
and just because dramas and things are cool, doesnt mean that life there
will be any different than trying to struggle to live, and plus she cant even
understand half the things that are going on there. I just cant think of any
thing else to force her to stop. What else could i possibly tell her?

[koikurasu]

Well, have you tried sitting her down, and explaining all this to her?

[zoneoni]

Wow, umm..your friend more then anything has guts. Monster Guts...if we were to compare say....THUNDER GOD THOR against her, she would probably win hands down. Is she going alone? If she is it's a big disadvantage, the language barrier will make it very impossible to succeed, unless of course her art skills are way off the chart. In which case you don't really need words in a sense. But not knowing the language would make you susetible to other things like, money fraud, swindlers, cheats. All countries have their fair share and knowing how things work or what people are really saying is the most sure way of avoiding that. If you plan to live there, and you don't have a solid flow of income then like you said, she will either be horribly cramped with the bounderies of her lifestyle or will learn to hate how the world works. Above all it would be an experience for her even if it's a bad one she would be able to learn from it, as a friend the most you can do is either follow her together, which would be an extreme case and help her, or start saving up for her return ticket.

[Hatredcopter]

Just inform her that she can't, because its illegal. You can't just decide to up and move to a new country whenever you want. You need to have a visa to live there. A working visa requires that you already have a 4-year bachelor's degree and already be hired by a Japanese company. A student visa requires that you be enrolled in a Japanese university.

Since neither of these are the case, she can't live there. If she tries and gets caught, she may be kicked out of the country and not be allowed back in...